SMA is the culmination of three training assist visits (TAV) since the ship completed her refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). TAVs from TYCOM aim to improve operations and ensure procedural compliance across the ship’s Supply Department.

Each playing a critical role in the overall assessment, the 12 divisions were inspected and audited on aspects of their department which affect mission readiness such as records, surveys, transactions, ledgers, requisitions, food service operations and cleanliness and inventories.

“I believe in and trust my team in our day-to-day operations, and they’ve come a long way,” said Senior Chief Logistics Specialist Virgilio Maniego, stock control readiness division’s leading chief petty officer. “SMA is a major milestone for us to accomplish as we’ve come from the culture of RCOH to a mission-ready team. The crawl, walk, run, phases apply here. The Sailors who have been here since RCOH started off with basic training from previous TAVs and they are now at the walk phase. They’re starting to see the bigger picture as far as supporting the fleet and the command itself.”

Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Ernst Clervil was new to S-1 division during their last TAV from TYCOM in August 2018. The fast-paced environment was a challenge at first, he said. This time around, his knowledge of supply management has increased and he better understands the process as a whole.

“There’s one thing that comes to supply management—whether it’s an inspection or an assessment, you should never be complacent,” said Clervil. “For an inspection like this, it’s all about following procedures.”

Knowledge and procedural compliance is the key to Supply Department’s performance during SMA and beyond, said Logistics Specialist 1st Class Micco Davis, stock control’s functional area supervisor and leading petty officer.

“It’s not only important to follow procedures, but also to understand why they’re in place,” said Davis. “That’s very important to any business or organization that someone is a part of. It’s better to know the ‘how’ and ‘why’ so you can perform better at a higher level. Looking back at our very first TAV, up until this point, we’ve improved all across the board. At the very beginning, our Sailors didn’t have much knowledge in the field. We were doing what we’re supposed to do, but didn’t really understand why. Now we’re at the point where the volume of the workload has picked up because we’re more operational. The more operational we get, the more requirements come up and the more procedures we have to follow.”

As Supply divisions get more effective at their jobs from the guidance the TYCOM representatives provide, Sailors need to stay on top of their game and improve for the final inspection.

Following completion of SMA, Abraham Lincoln’s supply department will move forward to Supply Management Inspection (SMI) scheduled for February 2019.

“There’s always room for improvement, minor tweaks here and there,” said Maniego. “The important thing is we continue to learn as a team, we continue to find better ways to improve the process as far as our day to day here.”